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Shots Fired From Iraq Embassy Hit 3 During Protest

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From Reuters

Gunmen inside the Iraqi Embassy fired at several hundred Shiite Muslim demonstrators Friday, wounding three people, witnesses and Indian officials said.

“There was firing from inside the (embassy) building,” a senior Foreign Ministry official said. “We are getting in touch with the Iraqi ambassador to find out who are the culprits.”

Kadhim Rawi, a counselor at the embassy, said in a telephone interview: “We condemn any violence. I have no comment. Don’t embarrass me.”

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Hospital sources said three people were treated for minor wounds after the incident.

Witnesses said people inside the embassy opened fire when a crowd estimated at 300 to 500 Shiite Muslims, supporting rebels in Iraq, smashed the windows of two parked cars then tried to clamber over spiked iron railings into the building’s front yard.

Shiite rebels have been fighting the government of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, a Sunni Muslim, since the end of the Gulf War.

Qaseem Haider, a 30-year-old businessman who was wounded in the shooting, said he could identify at least two gunmen, both Iraqis.

Haider said in a telephone interview from his home that he was hit in the stomach by a shotgun pellet and added that at least two other people were injured.

The Organization of Delhi Prayer Leaders organized the demonstration, alleging that Iraq had desecrated Karbala and other holy sites and abducted the world’s highest-ranking Shiite Muslim scholar.

The crowd dispersed and marched under heavy police escort to a nearby U.N. office, where the protest continued. Demonstrators carrying placards and banners shouted slogans against Hussein.

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